BUNDESTAG TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENCOIDE BEFORE PRE-TERM ELECTIONS, ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY SAYS
Armenpress
YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS: Armenian ambassador to Germany,
Karine Ghazinian, argued today that a largely- expected victory
of conservative Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union
(CSU/CSU) bloc in pre-term parliamentary poll , would result in more
favorable conditions for Germany to recognize officially the 1915
Armenian genocide.
On April 22 the German parliament agreed on a resolution that
asked Ankara to accept its role in the expulsion and massacre
during and after World War I that killed up to 1.5 million
Armenians. Mrs. Ghazinian said the resolution is very likely to win a
final approval by lawmakers before they leave for a summer recess. The
resolution that avoids the word “genocide,” calls on Turkey to
“take historic responsibility” for the massacres of Armenians by the
Ottoman Turkish government and ask forgiveness from the descendents
of the victims. The ambassador said she had received assurances of
many of Bundestag members, who, despite their involvement in a new
election campaign, said the resolution would be passed before pre-term
parliamentary elections. She also said the new resolution would use
the word “genocide.” She also said the Armenian community of Germany
is working hard to have the resolution passed.
The three-page resolution also recognizes a limited German role
that was Turkey’s main ally in the World War I in the massacres
that killed between 1.2 and 1.5 million Armenians. Gernot Erler,
the Social Democratic (SPD) deputy foreign affairs spokesman in the
Bundestag had said in a statement.
“The Bundestag asks the Armenian people for their forgiveness.” The
resolution was condemned by Turkey’s ambassador to Germany, Mehmet
Ali Irtemcelik, as containing “countless factual errors” written “in
agreement with propaganda efforts of fanatic Armenians.” Germany has
been reluctant to address the issue of Turkish and Armenian history
in the past largely due to its own 2.5 million Turkish residents.